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The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

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When published in the 1960s, this book had a revolutionary effect on our understanding of the American Revolution. Its impact is undiminished by the passage of the last 40 years. Bailyn's scholarship and exposition remains as exciting as it must have been at the time of initial publication. Bailyn attempted to take a fresh look at the thinking of the individuals who made the Revolution. His work was based on an extensive survey and analysis of the large number of political pamphlets published in the years leading up to the revolution. His work benefited as well greatly from a number of other significant works of scholarship, such as Caroline Robbins' book on the Commonwealth tradition in 18th century thought. More than anything else, Bailyn succeeded in determining what key terms like 'power', 'liberty', and republicanism meant to the Revolutionary generations. In doing so, he was able to strip away anachronistic accretions from these terms and ideas and recover the actual thinking of the Revolutionaries and their opponents.

Bailyn's achievement is manifold. He was able to show that dominant intellectual influence on the Revolutionaries was a compound of classical models, Common Law legal tradition, Enlightenment ideology, covenant theology, and a strong tradition of British intellectual and political dissent that had its roots in the Commonwealth period of the 17th century. The latter tradition was especially important and acted as the binding matrix for other traditions and interpretative lens through which other received ideas were focused. Bailyn shows how these ideas were articulated in the specifically American context and how they led inevitably to confrontation with the expanding imperial authority of Britain. This conflict led to new expansions of the basic ideology, some of which would represent completely novel ideas. The traditional ideas of representation and consent, constitutional basis of society, and sovereignty were overthrown and replaced to a very large extent by the concepts we still uphold.

The development of these new ideas and the necessity to give them practical scope would lead to what Bailyn artfully termed "The Contagion of Liberty"; the expansion of concepts of rights and freedom well beyond the original categories of thought received by the Revolutionary generations. These would include attacks on slavery, the questioning of establishment of religion, speculation about democracy as a legitimate and potentially stable form of government, and an increasing emphasis on social equality generated from the realization of political equality. As Bailyn remarks, the thinking and writing on these topics provides the bridge between the world of the 18th century intellectuals and what would become the world of Madison and de Toqueville.

Bailyn's analysis and scholarship are superb. The organization and quality of writing in this book are outstanding. Just as important, Bailyn is very good at supporting his analysis with well chosen excerpts from contemporary political pamphlets. His judicious choice of quotations not only serves to support his conclusions but gives a fine idea of the words and thoughts of the Revolutionaries and their opponents.

This is a fundamental book for understanding the American past.

This is the critically acclaimed book by Bernard Bailyn that stands in contradistinction to Charles Baird's Economic Interpretation. With unusual courage, Bailyn attempts to understand the founders as they understood themselves. In the preface, Bailyn recalls the "intense excitement" and "sense of discovery" he felt at Harvard Universtiy when he studied the ideological themes of revolutionary America. This excitement and sense of discovery is passed along to the reader.

This is a very scholarly work. The extensive footnotes are fabulous. I especially enjoyed the chapter called "Power and Liberty". Bailyn develops the pre-revolutionary idea that the ultimate explanation of every political controversy is the disposition of power. Power is defined as "dominion" or the human control of human life. With dozens of fascinating examples, Bailyn illustrates why power is essential to the maintenance of liberty, but dangerous and in need of restraint lest it extend itself beyond legitimate boundaries.

I found it refreshing to read a book about America's founding that didn't condescend or politicize. It wasn't until I read this book that I fully appreciated how impoverished my public school education was on the topic. You wont be disappointed.

This work is a classic. Bailyn brilliantly traces the ideological background of the revolutionaries. He shows how they were steeped in the radical libertarian and republican opposition literature of 17th and 18th century England. He overturms traditional interpretations that stress Locke as the primary influence by demonstrating the vital importance of such men as Algernon Sidney, John Milton, John Trenchard & Thomas Gordon, Lord Bolingbroke, and a host of others. Despite this, Bailyn does not deny the centrality of Locken natural rights philosophy, as many more recent scholars have. He sees the basic philosophy behind the revolution as one which views power as the eternal enemy of liberty. Power must be watched and restrained tightly, otherwise it will exceed its bounds and bring about the end of liberty and the initiation of slavery. He also delves into various issues relating to this philosophy that surrounded the break from Great Britain as well, including the unsettling consequences of their revolutionary agenda(e.g. new views of slavery). In the revised edition of the work, Bailyn extends his analysis to the new U.S. Constitution. Contrary to many other scholars, Bailyn maintains that the new Constitution did not represent a repudiation of the Revolution, but rather, its fulfillment. I myself am still a bit skeptical concerning this point, but his scholarship is sound, and his reasoning is suggestive and challenging. Above all, I would have to say that this work is an absolute *must* for any individual who is interested in early-American history or political philosophy. Moreover, it is also very instructive for liberty loving Americans, as it reveals the nature of the truly radical libertarian foundations of our nation.

This was an incredibly interesting book. Realizing that Bailyn is quite an accomplished historian-scholar, I put off reading this - I assumed it would be brilliant but very difficult to get through. Well, I was correct about the brilliant part - but wrong about the "difficult to get through" part. It was increadibly readable. Also, the main points of the book are important to understanding American political thought. Interestingly, the country's revolutionary thinking originated from the very country we were fighting againt - ENGLAND! In arguing the continuous debates over the tension between liberty and power, the pamphlet writers of the day turned to 17th and 18th century thinkers to make their case. The best parts of the book are the last two chapters. In the second to last, originally the last chapter until the enlarged edition came out, Bailyn discusses concepts like democracy, representation, and slavery. In the final chapter, "Fulfillment," apparently written much later, Bailyn focuses on the Constitutional Convention and the arguments between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists; particularly, what they felt about virtue residing among the country's people and how best to form a government. One final note: Bailyn's sources from other scholarly journals will lead the read to many interesting gems - especially a few of the articles from William and Mary Quarterly (a must-have journal for anyone interested in the time-period).
ENJOY!

Long before there were bloggers and political pundits there were the pamphleteers. Bernard Bailyn shows just how important pamphleteering was in getting the message out. Take Tom Paine's Common Sense for instance. More than 200,000 copies were distributed throughout the colonies, making it a runaway bestseller in its day. He championed universal suffrage, the unicameral legislature and a clean break from England. He was countered by John Adams, who, in Thoughts on Government, felt a more prudent course was in order. Bailyn gleens from these famous pamphlets and many others and presenting a very compelling history of the American Revolution. It was a revolution in thought as well as government, that eventually saw Adams' Federalist ideas seize the upper hand. But, Pennsylvania initially adopted many of Paine's ideas, creating the only unicameral legislature in the United States, and extending voting rights to most men.

My book is heavily tagged, because there is so much to draw from these pages. Bailyn lays the foundations for the political discourse that would shape our nation. At times this discourse could be quite vehement in its pronouncements and its denunciations. It was never boring. Tom Paine emerges as one of the heros in this book, championing The Rights of Man, which have a far greater impact 50 years later when Andrew Jackson rode into the White House declaring himself a champion of the common man.

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn is smartly written with political sophistication towards the American Revolution. If a person studies the American Revolution you have to read this book... for without reading this you will have a difficult time understanding the emergence of eighteenth-century thought on the why the revolution came about.

Documentation is there for reference as well as the American ideological positions which can be found fully formed as far back as 1730's. This is a good solid work and should be on all bookshelves of anyone who studies the American Revolution and the Men who strongly believed in it. A good starting point.

Well done and outstanding... eminetly fascinating.

To be very concise, this is not for casual reading. It's a history of the evolution of ideas, not a blow-by-blow on events leading up to the Revolution. As a result, it's very dry reading. If you're interested in the Revolution and just want to be familiar with this work, go find the review in the William & Mary Quarterly and read it. If you are a serious student of the Revolution, though, you MUST invest the time in reading this book. It is, perhaps, the single most important work on Revolutionary ideas and has shaped further research on the period for the last 30 years. It is impossible to discuss the Revolution with any credibility without a familiarity with its main ideas.

There is an unfortunate, somewhat politically correct, movement today attempting to 'prove' that the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, were motivated by, and the documents based on, the Bible and Christianity.

This forlorn hope relies on tenuous ties to Biblical scripture to illustrate sections of both documents, and the alleged religious piety of the Founders. This is not only bad history, but it is nonsense and is giving a false picture of the background, motivation, and ultimate success of the American Revolutionaries. They are being misquoted, misrepresented, and quite frankly, lied about.

This excellent volume, written before all the present quasi religious whoop-de-do, dispels all of these misbegotten theories and presents in clear, concise, and documented prose what motivated the Founders to start a Revolution against the mother country and set out on 'the noble experiment.'

Bailyn is a noted historian, an accurate researcher, and a careful analyst of historic events. This is one of the best books on the American Revolution that has been written in the last fifty years. The author painstakingly takes the reader through the development of Enlightenment thought, the Founders preoccupation with classical antiquity, and where their theories of independence, the rights of man, and government came from and how they developed.

What they wrought was not a state founded on religion or religiuos principles, but on English Common Law, which had as its antecedents Roman Law, Saxon Law, and the Danelaw, none of which were based either on the Bible or on Christianity in any of its forms. What Bailyn has given us is a clear and concise history of the Founders that needs to be read and studied by present and future citizens to understand our bdginnings as a nation.

This is a book that all students of the American Revolution should be forced to read. Without understanding Bailyn's argument, that the "conspiracy against liberty" was the main reason why America decided to break away from the British Empire, a student will be forever lost in trying to understand the roots of the American Revolution. Almost all of the books on the outbreak of the American Revolution have had to take Bailyn's argument into consideration; so, if you're interested in the study of the American Revolution, then this book is an imperative read. Read T.H. Breen's "The Marketplace of Revolution" after this book, and you'll have a decent grasp of the roots of the American Revolution.

Bernard Bailyn's Ideological Origins of the American Revolution is a centerpiece in much, if not all, of contemporary historians' viewpoints and methodologies for understanding the philosophical constructs and ideological underpinnings of the American Revolution. It was, according to Bailyn and many learned historians, after this writing first appeared in 1967, a revolution of ideas. What Bailyn did was to read prodigious amounts of writings of the time, mostly in the form of pamphlets and synthesize the thoughts that were being discussed and written about at the time. Essentially, he put the revolution of ideas into the context of the time. That was, some forty years ago, revolutionary within of itself.

Many of today's more serious readers of the period have read much of Bailyn and Gordon Wood indirectly, if not directly reading their own work. Both have been that influential in the field. The "disappointment" in this book is caused by Bailyn's own success, ironically enough. It was his work, along with select others, who began to pay attention to history within its own context - that is what was occurring in life and politics at the time rather than a chronological and linear view of the time. More of an interdisciplinary viewpoint and, as such, more accessible to the reader. Since the time of its first publication, many others have emulated its style (a good idea) but made its rather seismic effects at the time, feel much less so today. Effectively so much hype over the years (deserved then and de rigor today) makes for more than a bit of a letdown for today's readers. That said, those truly interested in the ideas, the philosophies, and their interpretations and misinterpretations of the day are well served reading Bailyn. Others should approach the read with caution as it is fairly dense but filled with moments of sheer academic brilliance.